EDS' Automotive Retail Group Signs Multiple Agreements to Enhance IT Flexibility and Integration in the Retail Automotive Sector
IT Service Providers to Utilize DealerSphere Brokerage Service and RouteOne Credit Application Management System as Launching Pad for New Services
TROY, Mich., Dec. 11 -- EDS today announced that its Automotive Retail Group (ARG) has signed agreements with seven information technology (IT) companies to utilize EDS' DealerSphere information brokerage service for integration to RouteOne's Credit Application Management System within the automotive retail environment.
DealerSphere, a data exchange brokerage service that enables disparate IT systems and applications to communicate through an online network, allows automotive retailing users to choose the IT and computer applications that best fit their needs without the concern for compatibility and data sharing.
The seven firms signing agreements with EDS provide IT products and services to the automotive retail sector and include:
-- Advent Company (Los Angeles) -- Auto Town (San Francisco) -- AutoSoft Systems Inc. (W. Middlesex, Penn.) -- ACS (Mobile, Ala.) -- AFS (Memphis, Tenn.) -- Dealer Marketing Services (Rock Island, Ill.) -- Market Scan (Westlake Village, Calif.)
"DealerSphere will enable us to provide the most comprehensive dealer management system integration in the industry. No other company offers anything as advanced or economically feasible as EDS," said Mike Jurecki, CEO, RouteOne.
RouteOne, which was one of DealerSphere's first customers, allows automobile dealers to commonize online credit and lease applications for ease of submission to a range of financing institutions.
"With the RouteOne integration as a launching point, EDS is poised to rapidly expand DealerSphere to provide first-of-its-kind integration across applications that are used by automotive dealers," said Mark Allen, vice president of strategy and business development for EDS' ARG. "DealerSphere represents the advent of effective application of technology within our industry."
Client Satisfaction with DealerSphere
Charlie Prophet, chief operating officer of AutoSoft Systems, a provider of dealer management systems to franchised automobile dealers, notes that DealerSphere allows his company to compete more effectively with larger suppliers of IT services. "DealerSphere enables us to bring a much more robust and utilitarian product to bear on behalf of our automobile dealer customers. EDS has not only simplified data exchange, but in many cases has literally made this service possible."
Ron Means, chief executive officer of Market Scan, a provider of automation technology products for auto dealership sales forces, including lease and finance databases, notes that DealerSphere provides his company with a greatly enhanced capability to interface with financial institutions. "By accommodating dealer access to the widest possible range of database and information services, Market Scan has carved an industry niche that centers on enhanced dealership profitability, reducing overall transaction time and improving dealer CSI scores. By linking to RouteOne through the EDS protocol, Market Scan adds to this already proven formula, and we're proud to be a first-wave participant."
DealerSphere: Increasing IT Flexibility and Utility in the Auto Industry
DealerSphere is a "data broker" service which facilitates the exchange of digital information through an industry standard web-enabled, common architecture. Through management of transaction, application and dealer "profiles," DealerSphere provides secure, guaranteed routing of information between disparate applications in use by automotive dealers. It provides a number of benefits for automobile dealers and automakers, including:
-- increased choice and flexibility in the selection of IT solutions and
applications;
-- reduced overall IT expenditures;
-- easier implementation of applications and aggregation of information.
For companies providing IT solutions and services for the retail automotive space, DealerSphere offers additional value, including:
-- more functionality in offerings enhancing business value; -- reduced research and development costs; -- universal data and transaction interface. Striving for "Plug & Play" in the Automotive IT Environment
DealerSphere allows EDS and other IT companies to address a wide range of critical automotive retail issues to make the IT environment more like the "plug and play" nature of the desktop computer and consumer IT markets. Through DealerSphere, auto dealers will be able to select and readily utilize the applications that best suit the business needs of their enterprises, without sacrificing the benefits of tightly integrated systems.
"The IT environment in the automotive retail sector needs to become much more flexible and integrated," concludes Allen. "Based on the early response we've had to DealerSphere, EDS is excited about the progress we are seeing in the areas of interoperability and open interfaces."
About EDS
EDS, the world's most experienced outsourcing services company, delivers superior returns to clients through its cost-effective, high-value services model. EDS' core portfolio comprises information-technology and business process outsourcing services, as well as information-technology transformation services. EDS' two complementary, subsidiary businesses are A.T. Kearney, one of the world's leading high-value management consultancies, and UGS PLM Solutions, a leader in product data management, collaboration and product design software. With 2002 revenue of $21.5 billion, EDS is ranked 80th on the Fortune 500. The company's stock is traded on the New York and London stock exchanges. Learn more at www.eds.com .
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